Last night was so much fun, until the end of it that is...I went out with Kim and another friend from school after our 6-9 p.m. class ended. First we went to this cool Chinese restaurant by the school. Ever heard of something called "boba"? Anyway, afterwards we went to a movie theater in a local mall and saw the movie "Million $ Baby," which was pretty good! It had been a fun night overall. I came home about 1 a.m. (a time when my roommate is almost always asleep). When I walked in the door, there, standing in the middle of the living room, was a big ferocious moose -- just kidding. It was my roommate.
With a hint of disgust in her voice, she said "Where have you been??? I thought something happened to you. I called your parents." My heart sank. I didn't even bother to answer her as a sense of impending doom settled into my mind. She had just told me she called my parents to tell them I was missing! Here it was, 1:00 in the morning, and I, a 23 year old grad student, was going to have to call my parents (who were probably worried sick and getting dressed at that very moment to come up to my place and form a search party for me) and tell them I had just gotten home. I felt as if I had just then been zapped back to junior high school. I was so scared thinking of what might have happened had my parents actually freaked out when she called -- thinking of my dad coming up here cussing and yelling "Where the hell have you been?" (Which happened to me quite a few times as a kid -- and my hometown friends know what a stickler my dad can be about being on time). Luckily, however, they did not seem to be too concerned when I called (probably because I had talked to them that evening and told them I was going to a movie). After all, I was only out a few extra hours after class -- nothing too out of the ordinary! So...
I am rather confused as to how I should feel about this. I feel as though I should be thankful that she did care enough to worry about my whereabouts yet, at the same time, I have lived with eight roommates with whom none of us ever checked in with each other and I am rather angry (actually more like "pissed") that my parents had to be called because I wasn't home before midnight! I think it would have been different if I had not shown up by night time the next night. But -- I was only gone a few extra hours -- something young graduate students DO tend to do from time to time. So, she told me that from now on I need to check in with her and tell her when I am going to be gone somewhere. That makes sense but I just don't think it's necessary to tell my roommate if I'm going to be gone for just for a few extra hours. I wrote her a note and told her this -- that I don't think it's necessary and that I am not going to make any promises to always check in. That's just ridiculous if you ask me.
So, in the end I am left to wonder if it was more about "me not being home on time" or about "her potentially having to stay at home, alone, at night" -- something she will not do (as if little old me could really protect her if someone did break in). It is kind of funny to think of how I am more afraid of zombies and she is more afraid of living people. lol. Oh well.